There are a great many anti-counterfeit technologies available to manufacturers and brand owners, ranging from the very simple but effective, through to the highly sophisticated and extremely secure. The majority can be implemented on one or more of the packaging components, but some features can even be applied at the product level, either by direct marking or by using physical or chemical markers within the formulation.
The purpose of an anti-counterfeit feature is primarily
to enable the authentication of an item, by government, industry investigators,
or ideally, by the wider public. The second function may be to act as a
deterrent to anyone considering counterfeiting a product based on the
difficulty or cost involved set against the likelihood of detection, and
therefore prosecution. It must be stressed that security devices on packaging
components provide no assurance as to the authenticity of the contents, which
may have been substituted or adulterated. Security devices alone do not reduce
counterfeits, but are designed to make them easier to detect.
Anti-counterfeit
technologies can be broadly classified as follows:
•
Overt, or visible features
•
Covert, or hidden markers
•
Forensic techniques
•
Serialisation/Track and Trace
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